MINNEAPOLIS — Without major repairs, the Agate homeless shelter in Elliot Park would permanently close in less than two weeks.

However, a recent City Council action allocating $1.5 million dollars of surplus funds, combined with matched money from an anonymous donor, is set to save the 95-bed space that serves 135 people.

Agate Executive Director Kyle Hanson said the shelter will still close on Oct. 9. After that, work will be done to repair things like plumbing and heat, while adding air conditioning.    

Hanson said the shelter will reopen in eight to 12 months.

“The City Council stepped up and made sure that we funded a shelter to prevent its permanent closure,” said Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez.
    
But Minneapolis Mayor Frey said there’s just one problem: That money is already allocated.
    
In a letter to council members Thursday, Frey wrote that the funding decision lacked proper vetting and was based on point-in-time budget projections.

The council’s action will either cut $350,000 for a Minneapolis park, or will cut city staff, according to Minneapolis’ Chief Financial Officer Dushani Dye.

“They didn’t talk to anybody that actually knows what they’re talking about with respect to the budget, and the repercussions are they ended up cutting things that they didn’t realize they were cutting,” said Frey.

“To those claims, I’ll say the money is there and if the money isn’t there, did the mayor’s administration share inaccurate information to the public a couple days ago?” said Chavez.

According to Chavez, the shelter funds are coming from surplus dollars from city departments that regularly underspend. The 2024 city budget projects underspending, he said.

While the funding was approved and Frey did not veto it, the mayor said, in his letter to council members, that his administration will work to find “…a less disruptive source of funding.”

“Our team is going to continue to dig in on this to figure out how we make lemonade out of lemons,” said Frey.

City leaders say the years-long effort to rebuild the Minneapolis Police Department, while not over, is starting to be seen and felt—nearly two dozen more officers, including new firsts, are on the force following a graduation ceremony. 

“Just as they’re about to take their oaths today, before all of you and before God, I know that I have a sacred obligation to do that all I can for them,” MPD Chief Brian O’Hara said at the ceremony. “I pledge to you tonight that I will do everything within my power to take care of them.”

Now part of the rank-and-file are 11 recruits and 12 lateral officers who are joining from other agencies, some with more than a decade of experience. Of the recruits is the first-ever Somali woman, Ikran Mohamed, and permanent resident, Lesly Vera, for the department. 

A permanent resident who is a non-citizen can be part of the department now due to a recent law change, Chief O’Hara said. Officer Vera said she moved to Minneapolis from Mexico when she was 4 and has called it home since. 

“I didn’t see anybody that really looked like me, Latina,” Vera said about her drive to become a police officer. “I want to have that face for my people.”

The chief is standing firm behind his new officer. 

“There may be people who question it, but that’s completely ridiculous. There’s, like I mentioned, there is a history in this country of people immediately on arrival to the country, enlisting in the military and serving,” O’Hara said, adding, “Somebody like [Officer Vera], who has been here essentially her entire life, absolutely is entitled to protect her community in the same way that anyone else here has, and we’re honored to have her.”

Her colleague, Officer Mohamed, with a similar message about her next big chapter in life. 

“This is what I wanted to do, and it was very challenging. That’s why I’m here. And I want to be that somebody, [to] be a role model for girls who look like me. So they can say, I can do it too,” Mohamed said. 

Mayor Jacob Frey feels the work they’ve been putting in to build up the department – not just in numbers, but culture – is starting to be seen and felt. 

“It’s moving. It’s emotional. I mean, I talked about the hope in the room, from a personal standpoint as mayor of the city, it gives me a lot of hope. Our police department is looking more and more like the communities that we are charged with protecting and serving,” Frey said. 

Also part of the graduation was four new Minneapolis Park Police Officers.